My Scripts
Preserving Cape Coast: Reflecting on the Erosion of Our Shoreline and Values
While growing up as a teenager in Cape Coast, we were attending church services in the OLA College and one of the most enjoyable things we used to do with our priest, the College Chaplain was taking long walks along the stretch from the OLA junction all the way to the...
JOSTLING FOR POSITIONS ON THE BALLOT PAPER – POLITICAL ADVANTAGE OR PLAIN SUPERSTITION
By Engr. Eric Atta-Sonno Last Friday afternoon, a simple exercise that was meant to place some thirteen presidential candidates on the ballot paper in the upcoming general elections ended up in hours of banter. The exercise scheduled to be held in the hallowed offices...
I GUESS WE STILL HAVE A FEW THINGS TO BE GRATEFUL FOR!
The city of Cairo is a very interesting city with several perspectives to daily living. During my few days in the city as we drive around both the Old and New Cairo, there were a number of things that one could not help but notice. One of these had to do with the...
ARE WE PRACTICING CORRUPTION IN THE NAME OF PREMIUM SERVICE?
“Without strong watchdog institutions, impunity becomes the very foundation upon which systems of corruption are built. And if impunity is not demolished, all efforts to bring an end to corruption are in vain“ — Rigoberta Menchú, Nobel Prize Laureate Two weeks ago, I...
WE NEED URBAN RENEWAL IN OUR HOUSING
In the last couple of days, I’ve been a participant in a construction conference and trade exhibition in Egypt. In my curious self, as we were being shuttled from our hotel to the Exhibition Centre in the heart of Cairo, we all took interest to look around for a good...
I SAW AN ‘EVIL’ UNDER THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS
“There is another evil I have seen under the sun. Kings and rulers make a grave mistake” - Ecclesiastes 10:5 (NLT) For those of us in Accra and other cities who drive, you will notice this situation where traffic police officers are found at traffic...
WHAT RENDERS A PLACE SECURITY ZONE?
Sometime in 2013, I had a foreign guest who was visiting Africa for the first time. He was so enthusiastic about the prospects of the visit. He had heard so much about Ghana being the foremost location from where most slaves were captured for the emerging American and...
Engr. ERIC ATTA-SONNO: Is the Ghanaian Media still the Fourth Estate of the Realm?
I have been an ardent follower of the Ghanaian media landscape since the early 1990s. My special delight in those days included the newly established Ghanaian Chronicle newspaper that churned out two editions on Mondays and Wednesdays. On the airwaves, Joy FM had just...
A COUNTRY THAT HAS NO REGARD FOR ITS VULNERABLE
“How a society treats its most vulnerable is always the measure of its humanity” – Ambassador Matthew Rycroft (United Kingdom Mission to the UN) A few weeks ago, my dear friend, I encountered a spectacle that shocked me to my bones. A man very well advanced in age had...
IMPROVING OUR HEALTHY LIFESTYLE WITH WALKING
Last Friday, I worked from my firm’s facility along the Oxford Street in Osu. In the course of the morning, I needed to pick up an item from the Total Shop close to the Koala Shopping Centre. As I stepped out of the Oxford Street Mall, my attention was drawn to...
HEAVEN IS COUNTING ON YOU!
I did this piece as a follow-up to a write-up by the Rev. Emmanuel Ofei Ankra-Badu, an Apostle of The Church of Pentecost about the role played by the workers of Messrs Dormang Long and Salini Impregilo in introducing the Catholic faith to Atimpoku and Akosombo...
Let’s tread very cautiously. Let them that have ears…
Many years ago while undertaking my National Service in the VRA, I was reminded of a very basic lesson which I had actually been taught during Civics in Primary School. The lesson was that the premises of all power transmission services at all levels are out of bounds...
A STITCH IN TIME …
In the last couple of months, a number of agitations have bedevilled this country with regards a number of issues. They have included among others appointment of ministers from Parliament, nomination and approval of ministers of state, equitable allocation of State...
FOR HOW LONG SHALL WE CONTINUE TO BE DEFRAUDED?
Back at school, one of my Quantity Surveying Lecturers remarked that, anytime a government provided infrastructure in Africa, anytime State authorities provided freebies, anytime State entities provided services, the motivation underlying the provision was most likely...
GETTING IT RIGHT ONCE AND FOR ALL
Power, it is said abhors vacuum and in all political power arrangements, it is critical that political vacuum is avoided as much as possible. If what was exhibited by our Members of Parliament last Thursday dawn in the Chamber with all the ancillary events is anything...